


Burning Embers

by ItsJaegerTrash



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Artist Eren Yeager, Daydreaming, Dubious amounts of gamer talk, Ereriminibang2k19, Erwin is Only Mentioned., Fictional Fantasy Race, Fictional MMO, Gaming AU, Got a bit hyped up, He can be a bit of an ass though., I added Halo in at some point because I was watching E3, M/M, Mention of Destiny, Mention of Halo, pouty levi, streamer Levi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-02 04:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19434367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsJaegerTrash/pseuds/ItsJaegerTrash
Summary: Eren Jaeger is an artist, a dreaming boy hoping to work as a concept artist for video games when he graduates. After all, he’s not quite cut out for the more technical side of his passion.On the other hand, is Levi Ackerman. A full time streamer, and professional gamer, is always running numbers, perks, and stats in his head to make his characters as strong as he can.Thanks to one Hanji Zoe maybe, just maybe, they’ll find find their “Player 2”.





	1. A Fateful Meeting

_Ash in the air, warmth across his skin, the sickening tear of muscles as golden eyes surveyed the damage in front of him in the dim torchlight of the stone keep. The shapes of two individuals ran ahead while one remained with him, their red eyes glittering with interest._

_With one last growl the brunet tore himself from the flesh of a fallen body, but not just any body. The creature was clad in a thick hide of green scales speckled with gold, it’s head lay limply against the ground with crooked horns adorned with gold bands sticking from it, though it was almost three times the size of the brunet, and lacked wings at it’s shoulders. A drake._

_Climbing down from the creature’s back, he let out a sigh._

_“Considering this dungeon just went live like a few hours ago, I’m sure nobody’s had the chance to see how much damage that Ult does to the final boss.” The red eyed individual spoke. Wait-_

_“Earth to Eren, come in Eren.”_

Eren blinked in confusion for a moment before he was snapped from his daze, his green eyes going to his right to look at a secondary monitor. Being met with the amused grin of an old friend, brown eyes glinting as they observed Eren’s return to reality.

“I’m- sorry, Hanji. What was that?” He asked bashfully, flashing them a shy smile as he returned his gaze to his screen, fingers tapping at his keyboard so his character sprinted forward after the other two members of their party. Some randoms they grouped up with when they decided to try the new dungeon.

“Damn, you really get into this game, don’t you?”

He rolled his eyes at that, adjusting his headset, and mic arm before returning his hand to the mouse to look around at their surroundings.

“Anyways,” They continued, “I was saying that nobody’s probably gotten the chance to see how much damage the “Somee” Pyrix Ult does to the end boss.”

Now that he wasn’t daydreaming, Eren nodded his agreement. He was glad Hanji was as patient as they were, with the fact that they too were sometimes just as bad as he was when it came to getting distracted while playing the game. _“Crimson Arrow: The Eldian Song”_ to be exact.

The young man had met Hanji during a dungeon raid about two years ago, Eren and his friends had been looking for someone to join them, and Hanji needed to run through it for a quest they were doing since their friends weren’t available.

“So, you finally got the “Teedohfa” perk?” They asked, having noticed the difference in the younger player’s drake form. The perk they were referencing was a pinnacle perk in the game for the race of Eren’s character.

Said character was a Pyrix Warrior, Pyrix being a hybrid race in the game due to them being part human and part drake. Because of his chosen race, Eren’s character was tall, with golden eyes, and green scales on his face and body. At his own choice, the Pyrix had long brown hair that was usual done up thanks to in game cosmetics.

“It was a bitch to grind for, but yeah.” He nodded, his eyes still on his screen as their characters caught up with the rest of their party, which had stopped to kill some undead blocking their path forward. “What about you? Last time we raided you were trying to get into the Scouts right?”

Joining the Scouts was a goal for many players, including Eren, he just hadn’t had the time with moving out of his parent’s place, getting his own apartment, working for his mom, and school, but now he was back into playing and posting his art online again.

“Yup! I got in!” They chirped as their mage character flung flames at the undead, watching them drop to the ground before the group proceeded. “Check it out.” They urged, nodding toward their own screen as they moved their character in front of Eren’s, showing him the familiar crest of the Survey Corps on the back of their robes. The crossed white and blue wings that Eren hoped to have on his own armor some day.

“That’s awesome.” He smiled, his eyes darting to his second monitor to look at his friend. Hanji had done the same, and smirked when those green eyes left them.

“You know, we’re recruiting again.” They hinted, “I could put in a word for you with Ozymandias and ReluctantHero.”

“Fuck! Hanji, really?!” He squeaked, his excitement surging up, and plastering a toothy smile on the college student’s face which made Hanji laugh.

Commander Ozymandias and ReluctantHero were two of the highest ranking members in the clan. Ozymandias was a one of the best CA players in PVP, and not just because his gear was good, the guy was terrifyingly smart. That much was obvious, especially when fighting against the Titan clan.

On the other hand, ReluctantHero was a sort of personal hero to Eren. The guy was a former e-sports player, and now streamed for a living. Eren always found his gameplay amazing to watch, the way the man was able to analyze class and race perks in CA, and put together the perfect team for any raid.

“Yeah! I know you wanted to be in the Scouts, so why not have a friend already there vouch for you?” They shrugged, brown eyes glittering as the two of their characters charged into the boss room. “Reluctant can be a bit of a jerk, but he’s not too bad.” As if on cue, Eren could hear Hanji’s computer ping a notification off, and saw their character pause as he assumed they turned to look at their messages. “Speak of the devil, and he shall appear!” They announced, their mouse clicking a few times before a notification pinged on Eren’s own computer to announce someone being added to their call.

As Eren charged the dungeon boss, he felt his shoulders tense, out of the corner of his eye he could recognize the familiar icon of a raven haired man, with a single black wing. He didn’t expect Hanji would add the very streamer he had been thinking about to their call, but they had, and Eren had a multitude of emotions swirling inside of him.

“Guess who, shit-glasses.” A low voice spoke as the video feed from their webcam came in. It wasn’t like Eren hadn’t seen the guy’s facecam during his streams, but being in a private video call with Hanji and the streamer was very different. The neat, inky, black hair in an off middle part, his narrow icy blue-grey eyes set in an indifferent expression. 

“Such a charmer, Levi,” They greeted, while returning to the game to assist their team in damaging the boss, their eyebrows drawing together as they began to focus. “It’s a wonder that you’re still single.” The jab only made the raven roll his eyes, leaning back in his chair as the soft clicking of his mouse filtered through his headset.

The soft huff of amusement Eren gave at Hanji’s remark had Levi’s narrowed silver gaze turned to him, the man silently observing the brunet as he called out to Hanji to cover him or to help him take out the Adds in the room.

“So who’s the kid, Hanji?” Levi finally asked after a while, pulling the long haired brunet from their battle that was drawing to a close. Thankfully they were on the last damage phase, and Eren’s character slipped into his Drake from as his ultimate activated, the green scales from before flashing across his screen as the giant lizard assaulted the giant boss.

“This is Eren,” They introduced, said “kid” giving a nod and an acknowledging sound as he stared at his screen with an intense focus. “He’s a friend from before I joined the Scouts, and he’s probably wanted to get in for longer than I have. He’s hoping to join with the new wave though.”

At that, Levi raised a brow, “Not something I haven’t heard before.” He stated, tilting his head as his eyes traveled his own monitors.

“He’s also an Attack Pyrix Main with that pinnacle perk you’ve been drooling over lately.” They added, and didn’t miss the way Levi’s eyes flashed with interest, leaning forward in his seat a bit.

“Oh? Not bad.” He rumbled before pausing to think, the tone sending a chill down Eren’s spine as he watched the boss’ health bar vanish, and the enemy fall to the ground. With a victorious cheer, Eren smiled to Hanji, and followed after them once his weapon sheathed to collect their loot.

“You want to join in on this?” Eren asked without thinking, his excitement probably obvious on his face. “Hanji and I need to run by the Delve Master and redeem this quest, if you’re in Trost we can pick you up to go run some random stuff.” As he gave a shrug his eyes briefly went to Levi’s face on his screen before returning to the game, eyes scanning his loot. A wave of pride struck the college student at the sight of a Legendary branded Greatsword, the name typed out in golden text on his screen: Wind-forged Glass Warblade.

“Sure, why the hell not.” The man sighed as the clicking of his mouse returned, and Eren assumed he was logging in. “I haven’t run the new dungeon yet, how’s the loot looking?” He asked neither brunet in particular, just whoever would answer.

“I got a Legendary Warblade, but I’m not too sure on the drop rates, I think I was just lucky.” Eren shrugged, equipping the new weapon in favor of his old Dragonbone Greatsword, looking to Hanji who gave their input shortly after him.

“Nothing too interesting for me, a new set of robes that look really nice.” They say as they swap their robes, the new set having dragons embroidered along the bottom, their fire curling up the sides, and the whole set being lined in some places with dragon scales. Of course Eren knew that once they were in Trost, and Hanji had access to a workstation, they’d have the Wings of Freedom on the back as well.

Levi gave no response more than a grunt of acknowledgement as the two adventuring players exited the dungeon, only to fast travel to Trost the moment they loaded into the game world. Trost was by far Eren’s favorite city in the game. Towering buildings, the European influence in design, the ivy you could see clinging to the stone surfaces, the shady trees, and interesting NPCs, he’d even gone and bought a player home in Trost when they were first implemented into the game. When he and Hanji’s character’s materialized through an almost celestial mist, Eren could see their character look around as if Hanji themself was looking around in excitement, and Eren could practically imagine the scene in his head as if it were real.

 _Helerel‘s red eyes lit up with excitement, the mage letting out a cheerful laugh as they raise their hand in a wave down a street to their left. Following their gaze, Adriand_ _felt a nervousness rise up in his throat, and threaten to spill over._

_“LIIIIIRRONNNNN!” They called out in a high pitched tone, running from Edriand’s side to envelop the newcomer with a crushing hug. Said newcomer was short, with porcelain skin, long pointed ears sticking through his jet black hair that was pulled back into a neat ponytail unlike Helerel’s. Even through the hug, and the annoyance in those narrow blue eyes, Edriand could see a sort of gentle fondness that the elf had for the loud and clumsy mage._

_While the two went on about how much Lirron hated being hugged like he was being crushed in a giant’s hold, Edriand took a moment to examine the elf’s gear. Leather armor, specifically made for rogues, hugged his lithe body with black, brown and hints of dark blue, his fingerless gloved hand appearing from his dark cloak to ruffle Helerel’s hair before pushing them away by their face as they whined a complaint. Dual blades hung from either of his hips, elegant elven craftsmanship shown in the nature inspired designs carved into the hilts, and one blade (that Edriand guessed was for his dominant hand) was a bit longer than the other, but not by much._

_It wasn’t till he looked to Lirron’s face again did he see amusement swimming in his icy blue eyes, and realize he’d been caught staring. For a moment the elf’s lips formed words that Adriand didn’t hear, until a snap sounded off in his ear._

“Hey bright eyes, you there?” Came Levi’s voice when Eren blinked from his imagination, turning his gaze to his second monitor to see Hanji laughing softly against their hand, and Levi raising a brow at him curiously as he lowered his own hand. “You back with us, or are you still in la la land?” He asked rhetorically, but Eren still have him a response.

“Just admiring the scenery.” He joked, though both of the other players were entirely aware he’d been staring at Levi’s avatar. Though he now found himself staring into the steely gaze of the real Levi, just as entranced by them has he’d been with the man’s character’s in his imagination.

“Must be some nice scenery if it took your brain out of commission for as long as it did.” The streamer snorted, turning back to the game, and breaking their staring contest. Briefly, Eren noticed Hanji wagging their eyebrows at him, before he just rolled his eyes and looked back at the game.

“Yeah, who wouldn’t stare.” He shrugged, “Anyways, since we’re here I want to go repair, and sell gear.” Hanji gave him a nod of approval, since they needed a workbench to take care of their own stuff. “So we’ll do that real quick, then set off on some dungeons, and quests.

“Sounds good to me.” Levi nodded, his idling character folding his arms across his chest, and tilting his head slightly as he looked around. The elven rogue seemed so much more like his player than Eren had noticed previously and he found it quite funny, a soft smile making its way onto his face as he began leading the way to the Merchant’s District, and noticing a few new bars of text appearing under Hanji’s on the top left of his screen:

**_ReluctantHero_ **

**_Lirron Alkinthaer_ **

**_Survey Corps-Captain_ **

**_Lvl 376 - Pale Elf Rogue_ **

**_Health:60,000/60,000_ **

Just seeing that he was in an adventuring party with a player as powerful as Levi was astonishing. Eren’s own character only barely capped out on half of Levi’s health as a level 251 Pyrix. It was fascinating when he watched Levi’s streams and witnessed the man craft and enchant his armor to get the most optimal levels of damage and status effects on every piece of gear he wears.

He wanted to be able to do the same once he was in the scouts. Maybe Levi would help him. At that thought, he looked around at the market the trio had entered, players and NPCs running around from stall to stall, and before Eren realized it Hanji’s character was bouncing off to edit their new robes.

“So,” Levi’s voice startled Eren for a moment as he made his way to the Armorsmith to have his gear repaired, his green eyes lighting up with surprise that he knew wouldn’t be seen in their videocall. “Out of curiosity, what does your health cap at when using your ult?” He asked, his character trailing behind Eren’s.

“It gives me a 10k boost in drake form, so like 33k?” He shrugged, eyes fixed on his character’s tail swaying behind him. There was a nod that Eren could see out of the corner of his eye at that, a soft “Not bad, but could be better.” Leaving the man’s lips.

“Well, if Erwin let’s you into the guild, we’ll have to fix that” He said rather matter-of-factly, “Don’t get me wrong, you’re going to have to impress me quite a bit with the shit you got now, but if you were optimized I’m sure you’d breeze through any shit we throw at you.”

Levi’s words surprised him, he was already considering letting him in the Scouts? Sure he still had to show off some, but that’d be no problem! Eren felt like a little kid in a candy store hearing him, and a determination to show that he was worthy rushed through him.

“Of course.” Was all he could say, his fingers itching to go adventuring now that he’d heard that from the raven. After that the rest of the evening sort of passed in a blur for Eren, they visited the Delve Master to redeem their quest for their reward of a raid chest key, and went straight to adventuring together. The party of three talked about whatever came to mind at the night went on, Hanji’s veterinary job, how Levi and Hanji’s first meeting in person had been due to Levi’s dog getting sick, eventually that moved onto talking about Levi’s dog, and how Hanji had been surprised about Levi having a pet. Eren though had been quick to admit that since he was a fan of Levi’s streams and actually followed him on Instagram and Twitter, so he’d seen many pictures of the droopy faced Basset Hound named “Maggie” that Levi adored so much.

Upon the mention of his social media, Levi’s eyes had flickered with curiosity for a brief moment before it was gone again as quickly as it had appeared.

“I don’t go on them much, just to look at animal pictures, talk to a couple friends, see if Levi’s streaming, post my art occasionally, take commissions here and there.” Eren shrugged, his eyes on the game as the trio enter combat with a pack of wolves, Eren’s character going through those familiar motions of retrieving his Warblade from his back to slice through the hostile beasts.

“That’s right!” Hanji exclaimed as they cast an incineration spell that casted a flaming AOE that tore at the wolves’ fur, and ate away their health bars. “I nearly forgot you’re an artist!”

“Yeah, decided to pursue it, and major in game art.” He nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. For some time Hanji had managed to linger on the topic of Eren’s art, and it even resulted in both Hanji and Levi visiting his Instagram page to view pieces of his art. Many of which were generally fantasy based or art pertaining to CA, like one piece that Hanji found that had Levi cocking an eyebrow and looking up to look at his monitor.

“Isn’t that a familiar face!” They declared rather than asked, the all too clear figure of a pale elven Rogue with a mask covering the lower half of his face, his blades in hand, and a dog running around his boot clad feet. The Rogue appeared as if he were charging into combat, his eyebrows drawn together over icy blue eyes, similar to the silver eyes that were on him now though these eyes held no aggression.

“C’mon, Hanji.” Eren whined, looking away from Levi, and feeling embarrassment burning at his face and ears. “His character design is really cool.” To which he got a hum of agreement from the other brunet.

“Well you’re not wrong.” They said, before moving on much to the artist’s relief. “By the way, Eren. Speaking of character design, yours is gorgeous.”

When he turned to look back at the video feed of Hanji, they were holding their phone to show a headshot drawing that he’d done of his own character. The Pyrix’s golden eyes settled under brows that drew his expression into a stern look, only shadowed slightly by his long brown hair, his tanned skin speckled with viridian scales under his eyes, on his cheeks, his temples, and down his neck to his shoulders where they grew more numerous.

He’d had that piece set as his icon on social media, and it was one of his favorite drawings of his own character. It made him smile that the two others in the video call liked his art, and Levi hadn’t even needed to say anything, just the notification of:

_“ReluctantHero liked your post”_

Was enough for Eren.

Eventually though, the group decided to call it a night. Hanji and Levi promising to talk to Erwin about bringing Eren into the Scouts, and all of them logging off an agreement to play again together soon. Not before Eren got a ping on his computer, a friend request from Levi before he disappeared for the night, and the sight of it only made him smile at the thought of what was to come.

Days ended up turning into weeks, weeks into months, and Eren had slowly grown accustomed to joining up with Hanji and Levi to play together. Eventually it had become more than just CA, and sometimes it would just be him and Levi: Playing an FPS, and Eren cursing whatever deity gave Levi his practically superhuman skills in the genre.

“That’s bullshit, Levi-“ Eren griped as he watched his Spartan’s body collapse to the ground, hearing Levi’s amused chuckling in his ears.

“You’re the one who peaked the corner, Eren.” The college student could practically hear the shrug in his voice, and Eren sighed, lifting a hand to brush his bangs from his face. He didn’t know why he challenged Levi, former member of a Halo esports team, to matches in that same game when it only ever resulted in him getting his ass kicked.

“I peaked it for like half a second!” He retorted, throwing his hands up in the air even if Levi couldn’t see him, his blue-green eyes flickering with anger.

“Enough time for me to see you, and put a bullet through your visor.” Levi pressed, getting a loud groan in response from the younger gamer. His hands going to hold his face for a few moments, his character standing completely still in the game, and everything fell silent till Eren looked up just in time to watch Levi pull him into an assassination. The black and blue Spartan pulling Eren’s own blue and white Spartan backward, and plunging a knife into the throat of the defenseless character.

“You’re an asshole.”

“It’s part of my charm.”

Teasing, and playful interactions became common overtime between them. Little flirts and innuendos, that Eren brushed off as banter whenever Hanji questioned him about it. Questions that became more frequent after his acceptance into the Scouts, and solidifying his place as a near constant companion to Hanji, Levi, Erwin, Petra, the rest of Levi’s usual raiding party, and more folks as time went on.

Eren himself had accepted some time ago that he was crushing hard when it came to the streamer, and he’d always got a bit flustered whenever he’d join Levi’s streams, and viewers would joke about the two of them. He knew Hanji and Erwin teased Levi relentlessly about it, but he’d never been completely sure about how he felt. Sure he joked, and “flirted”, but considering Eren was seriously awkward and unused to being flirted with he could hardly tell if it was genuine or not.

At least till he found a gift in his inbox on CA during the valentines event. The icon of a pink box with a red bow on it with the only text there being:

**_Jubilation of Haarts Gift_ **

**_From: ReluctantHero_ **

**_To: Last_Hope_ **

Jubilation gifts weren’t something Eren usually got, considering he didn’t play with many people, but seeing the gift being labeled from Levi had him shocked. With almost no hesitation, the brunet collected the item from his inbox, and went directly to his inventory to open it. Upon opening the gift, Eren was presented with cosmetic items like dyes, Crimson Store exclusive armor styles and emotes, and shockingly an EverHaart Amulet, but what really had Eren speechless was the personalized note that came with it. The animated scroll rolling open across his screen to reveal the message:

_“This is by far the cheesiest thing I’ve done in my entire life, but I wussed out of any other way to say it.”_

_“Eren, I want you to be my player two, for as long as you’ll play with me. -Levi”_

For a while he just stared at it, the message eventually fading away, and leaving his items on his screen. His eyes eventually being drawn to the EverHaart Amulet now sitting in his inventory knowing that with this item: there is a matching one given to the sender, and with a small smile, Eren equipped the gold and ruby jewelry.


	2. Player 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! Part 2 of Burning Embers.  
> I had a lot of fun finally playing around with this AU a bit!
> 
> With the EreRi Minibang Event, my lovely partner Katsur chose to do their art piece based off a scene from this part! 
> 
> I hope others enjoy this as much as I enjoyed it.

_Lazily the Pyrix yawned, stretching his limbs as if he was a cat basking in the sun, the messy mop of brown hair on his head falling into his face as he moved. He could almost hear a rumbling purr-like sound in his throat, feeling some sun from the bedroom window against his skin and the shiny scales that littered his face, his eyes opening just slightly only to be assaulted by the morning light that he raised a hand to block as he turned his head._

_Relaxing back against the sheets of the large bed he absently reached an arm across the expanse, not that he expected another body there, but he was pleasantly surprised that the sheets there still had some lingering warmth from another body. Which meant that he hadn’t been alone for very long._

_With a soft smile, the brunet decided to join the other creature still in their home, shifting to sit up and run his fingers through his hair. Normally he wouldn’t wake up this early, with his most active times being around noon and all, but that had started to change bit by bit because of a certain creature’s presence. With a another stretching of his limbs as he walked, he went about dressing himself in his favorite green tunic and brown pants, his small heart shaped amulet being tucked into his tunic, and he tied his hair up before he stepped from the shared bedroom. He didn’t look much different than any other person in town really, aside from his scales._

“Eren, come here for a minute!” The voice snapped Eren from his thoughts, and brought his gaze from the computer in front of him. The moment he logged in the brunet was ready to go for the day they had planned for the game.

Ditching his seat at the unfamiliar desk, he went to leave the spare room to follow the voice. It wasn’t hard to find the source though, finding a familiar silver eyed man sitting at his desk, and his dog laying near his feet her droopy face turning to Eren when she took notice of him. On one of the monitors on the desk was the game, his character idling in a familiar living room that brought a smile to Eren’s face. The other was tabbed into his own stream, seeing the live feed of himself and the raven, and the chat on the sidebar flowing with messages from viewers. Not an uncommon sight for a well known streamer.

“What’s up?” He asked, with a slight tilt of his head, his eyes returning to the man’s face as he knelt down to hold his hand out in silent offer to the canine. After a moment, she got up from her spot with a huff in order to waddle over to Eren for his attention, his hand giving her loving strokes, pats, and scratches.

“Keep getting questions about the artist that’s overhauled all my stuff.” He shrugged, looking toward his webcam before motioning to Eren. “There he is ya weirdos. He has an Insta, his links are pasted on my page.” He scoffed, though it held no real malice and everyone knew that. The moment he’d made a motion to Eren, the chat stuttered as even more messages came through. The sight made the brunet chuckle awkwardly with embarrassment, ducking his head for a moment to plant a kiss onto Maggie’s head, getting a snort from her in response. As he raised his head, a donation popped up on the screen with an animated gif of an eleven rogue in a blinking loop, a blade in hand, while the other rested on the snout of a large green drake. It was a small animation he did as practice for some commissions he wanted to do, but after he’d done it he wanted to make more, which resulted in new art pieces for the streamer’s icon, banner, donations, subscriptions, custom chat emotes, the list goes on.

“I’m sure they would’ve found the information eventually, is that really the only reason you called me in here Levi?” Eren grinned as the raven’s eyes returned to him, his hand stilling in The dog’s head while those gunmetal orbs narrowed at him upon being called out.

“They wouldn’t give up, most of them know who you are, and the stream should’ve been over by now. I’ve been playing Destiny with Erwin all morning, and now I need a break.” Levi grouched, leaning back in his chair.

Rolling his eyes the brunet stood with one last pat for Maggie, listening to her waddle her way from the room now that the door was open as he drew closer to the desk, his voice turning apologetic. “Sorry for his crankiness guys. You know how he is.” He looked from Levi, to the webcam, then to the chat. He rarely streamed himself, and even when he did he didn’t really talk or have his face on camera, it was mostly just him doing art with music playing. Lifting a hand when he came close enough, Eren placed it atop Levi’s head to card through his soft black hair. The only response he got to that was Levi reaching to wrap an arm loosely around Eren’s torso, his eyes returning to the chat, and narrowing.

“Don’t apologize for me, brat.” He huffed, and a: “Anyways, that’s pretty much it for today. Stream schedule’s up on my Twitter as usual, I’m not going to be streaming as much these next two weeks since Eren’s visiting.” was added, his hold tightening slightly. “Thanks for all of your donations and subscriptions, see you all, and don’t die.” He concluded, and went to cut the live feed, sighing when it shut off. “Making up for my lack of streams with a long stream at the beginning of your visit was a mistake.” The sound of his voice became muffled partway through as he turned, and pulled the bunet standing beside him into his lap, his arms wrapping around the younger’s waist while his face pressed to his shoulder.

[*](https://katsur.tumblr.com/post/185985279671/art-for-lovely-fic-burning-embers-by)

“Was it really, or are you just being grumpy today over the new update?” Eren asked turning his head to look at Levi knowingly. The man didn’t like when his perfected stats got shifted by changes, and his weapon perks got nerfed. Sure it was something for the health of the game, but it was still annoying to the man. Even more so when they had just gotten a good balance for Eren’s own character, a balance to get him a few dozen levels, and through dungeons faster than he could previously. At the mention of the new update, Levi’s hold tightened a bit, and Eren gave him a soft laugh as he leaned into the warmth of his smaller boyfriend’s body.

_Bingo_

“You know why it has to be done, don’t be like that.” He pressed, even if Levi acting like a pouting child was pretty cute, and a difference to his normally blunt and intimidating personality.

It was something Eren had gotten used to in the time that they’d started dating, only a few months in Eren knew more about the little quirks the man had than he had previously. His dislike of stat changes that lowered his carefully curated gear being one of the things he’d grown accustomed to, that among his cleaning habits, and sometimes being far too blunt in certain situations.

“Besides, you like your number crunching, and tweaking my gear was going to happen anyway.” At Eren’s shrug he gave with his words, Levi let out an almost unhappy growling sound, and Eren could imagine the scowl on his face being hidden against his shoulder.

“Whatever, in the end it means playing the game with you, but the faster we get it done the quicker we can move on to the Xbox.” The man behind him said, almost as if trying to convince himself it wasn’t that bad.

“Do you just want to be on the Xbox so you can destroy me in Halo some more, or because you want to be close to me?” Eren questioned with a quirk of his brow, lifting a hand to comb his fingers through Levi’s dark hair.

“Both?” He phrased it as a question as he lifted his head to look Eren in the eyes. _At least he’s honest._ Was the brunet’s only thought as a smile crept onto his face, leaning back just enough to plant a chaste kiss against his cheekbone.

“Well, the sooner you let me go, the sooner we can go do exactly that.”

Levi didn’t need any more prompting than that, he immediately released the younger man, and told him to hurry up getting back to the guest computer. To that Eren only shook his head with a chuckle as he stood. Despite the cold exterior Levi really was a nice guy, even if he didn’t admit it, and Eren couldn’t help but feel a fluttering in his chest whenever he’d see the soft look in the man’s eyes.

The thought of it brought that exact feeling back to him. It was hard to believe sometimes that _he_ was in a relationship with Levi. Sure he knew he’d probably meet the guy if he ended up getting accepted into the Scouts, but he never imagined that he’d be this close to him.

A part of him still looked up to Levi. His motivation and his drive for gaming was always great to watch, and he couldn’t lie and say he didn’t watch Levi’s streams anymore because he totally still does. Though he had decided to skip on the one Levi had just been doing, since he was sketching for a commission when the man went live, and it’d be a bit weird to be watching the stream when he’s just down the hall.

Stepping into the guest room, his eyes went directly to the computer, where his game was still running. Watching as the Elven rogue approached the Drake-shifting warrior, he couldn’t really help but imagine a scene that he was definitely going to draw later.

_“Edriand, I thought you would never get your ass up.” The elf across the room from him mused, his arms crossed over his chest, and his head tilted slightly. Dressed in a white shirt and black pants, his hair not put up into its usual ponytail, the elf could have possibly been mistaken for a woman before in the past considering his deceptively petite figure, and long straight hair._

_“If it means I get to have you wake me up, then perhaps I should go back to bed?” The Pyrix gave him a smirk with a raised brow, and a teasing lilt to his voice._

_“If you slept anymore, Gods know we would never get your armor repaired.” The raven scoffed in response, taking steps to approach his lover. “Your enchantments need to be fixed as well. I will not have you charging into another dungeon like you did last time, and then nearly die.”_

_“We had a Paladin, and Priest, I would’ve been fine.” Edriand shrugged, lifting one of his hands when the shorter came close enough to place it against his pale cheek. The reasoning only brought a scowl to the Elf’s face. “But, If it will make you feel better, Lirron, then I will.”_

_That melted away the scowl. Bringing in a softer, but still serious, look as he said: “I know you are supposed to take hits like that, but you can be a bit reckless at times.”_

_“For that I apologize.” The warrior nodded, watching slender fingers wrap around his wrist. He knew the rogue outclassed him in skill, but he’d been learning much under his guidance._

_“I want you to promise me that you will not act a fool the next time we go into battle.”_

_“Lirron, I don’t-“_

_“Edriand.”_

_The brunet let out a laugh at the stern voice his name was spoken in. Giving his partner a nod before responding verbally. “I promise.”_

“I get Tanking damage, but Erwin used so many prayers to keep you alive.” Levi’s voice came through on his headset, and Eren realized he’d basically been running on autopilot the whole time, their conversation having combined with his daydreaming.

“I could carry more great healing potions for my hotkey.” The brunet quickly looked to his inventory as he spoke, noticing how few of said potions he had, making him wince. Still, Levi agreed it would be a good idea. As they left their shared player home, the two decided to go over their list of changes to Eren’s armor. Things like: Increase his health recovery enchantment from 15% to 18%, infusing the metal with Eldian Glass to boost its strength from 600 to 750, modify his greaves for a faster base walking speed. There was more to it, but Eren could hardly remember it all and knowing Levi the man probably had a piece of paper, or a document pulled up, with his stats and his notes on how to improve his armor.

The whole conversation was a blur to him, more than happy to just listen to Levi’s voice talk him through everything. Though he’d have to retain some of it since Eren used heavy armor, while Levi used medium armor due to his Rogue class.

Like Eren and Levi themselves, their Crimson Arrow characters were so different while similar at the same time. In the game’s lore their characters races never got along. The Elves having enslaved the Pyrix for hundreds of years before they fought for their freedom, and fled into the wilds of Eldia. Relationships between the two races only grew more strained when Elves hunted the Pyrix for their scales, the shiny pieces used in elven jewelry until it was outlawed by the empire when the population of the Pyrix race ran the risk of extinction.

But even with the tensities between their races, Lirron and Edriand were as close as any other loving partners.

Making up personal lore with Levi was fun, the ideas they came up with for the meeting of the two, and the story of how they came to be as they are now was something they’d chat about whenever they got bored. The raven haired streamer had so many ideas for things in his mind, and Eren was always ready to jump on the chance of bringing Levi’s ideas to life while also building his portfolio for the future.

He was already getting through art school exceptionally well. It would only be a matter of time before the young artist went into trying to officially work as a game artist, and with the knowledge that Levi would probably be right there beside him made him really giddy and excited unlike any other time before.

He knew he loved Levi. He wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his days playing video games together, and laughing at dumb gaming jokes and memes.

“Eren?” Levi’s voice called and the moment it registered that he wasn’t paying attention, the artist’s face turned bright red out of embarrassment.

“Sorry- I got lost in thought. What were you saying?” He smiled awkwardly, glad his boyfriend couldn’t see his face at the moment, he would be mortified if Levi caught onto his thoughts.

“I was asking if you have all the materials you need for the repairs and the crystals for the enchantments.” He repeated as his character came to a stop at the entrance to Trost’s Blacksmith, and turned to look at his own.

“Yeah, made sure to leave them in my inventory after we collected them all.” In order to be sure, he quickly grabbed open his inventory, eyes catching the metal ores and Eldian Glass as well as the enchanting crystals before tabbing back out and stopping beside Levi.

“Good, I’m sure you’ve got all your armor in your inventory so no need to ask about that.” He almost sounded like he was going through a checklist. Making sure everything was perfect. “So you should be fine, you know how Smithing works.”

“Maybe you should show me, just to be sure.” He joked, a grin crossing his face when he could practically hear Levi rolling his eyes. “I bet those animations would look nice.”

“Are you really flirting with my game character, Eren?” He didn’t sound surprised, amusement lacing his tone as he spoke.

“Perhaps. What if you’re right?”

“Then I’d say: Dream on dragon-boy, I don’t do Smithing. I have all my armorer skills in Leatherworking.” The retaliation managed to pull a laugh out of Eren, and a low chuckle from Levi himself. “Anyways, let’s take care of this. Four-Eyes might want to see our new setups tomorrow.”

With that the rogue scampered off, leaving the warrior to work on his own armor. It took quite a few times of Eren having to double check his gear before finalizing it, watching the chips and breaks in his armor seal up, and gain the slight shimmer from it’s enchantment. There were a couple times where Levi came to the guest room to physically point out a few things, some changes to his perks and skills to balance him out. Maintaining a high damage output while still being able to tank incoming damage.

If Eren were being totally honest, he would admit to smiling like a complete idiot when Levi praised him and pressed a quick kiss to the top of his head. At least before he played it off, while Levi pointed to his “Hardened Scales” perk to talk about using it more often if he put a couple more points into it.

“Increasing your damage resistance by thirty or forty percent would help us out a lot. Since Erwin is less tanky than he should be, considering he’s a damn Paladin.” He shrugged, his steely eyes scanning the digital character sheet. “Any ideas? I know you’re good at DPS.”

“I could probably put a few more points into my Two-Handed skill to increase my melee damage output,” He pointed out seeing the raven nodding in agreement out of the corner of his eye. “But in terms of my spellcasting maybe “Dragon Beath” for normal casting and “Paralizing Roar” while in Drake form.” He didn’t bother much with his spellcasting in Drake form, but if they paired one of Levi’s abilities with the paralyzing effect they could do some massive damage.

“I think I get where you’re going with that,” Levi straightened up, folding his arms across his chest. “And I like it. Could prove pretty useful depending on the party make up. I think that’s it for today, if we need to make any changes we’ll do it tomorrow.”

“Wow. I never thought I’d see the day that Reluctant Hero, decided to not finish a gear set completely.” Eren teased, turning in the computer chair to look up at Levi with a smirk.

“Har har, brat.” The older man rolled his eyes, looking down at Eren with a slight tilt of his head. “I have something bigger to attend to.”

“You say that like kicking my ass on Halo is some special feat.”

“But now I can kick your ass at Halo in my home.” He then reached out to brush the younger’s hair from his face. “If anything that’s a chance for you to get the upper hand on me.”

The look of surprise on Eren’s face nearly made Levi laugh, and it took a moment for that expression to morph into a thoughtful one. “What are you suggesting?”

“I’m not suggesting anything, Eren.” Came a scoff from Levi. “Get your mind out of the gutter, if that’s where you went with that.”

“I didn’t!” He practically squeaked, his face flushing at the streamer’s comment.

“Sure, whatever you say.”

“Levi!”

“Eren.”

Blinking up at him, with his cheeks puffed like a child would, and his eyebrows drawn together in a scowl, Levi unfolded his arms to hold the student’s face in his hands.

“Stop scowling like that, you’ll give yourself wrinkles.” He scolded, a certain warmth in his tone as he caressed one of his cheekbones with a thumb, causing a noticeable relaxation across the brunet’s face.

“I don’t really want to rage at losing.” He sighed, and Levi relented, he understood that. There would be only so much from a former “Pro Esports” player that Eren’s temper could take, and he didn’t want to test it’s limits, and ruin his time with Eren.

“We can do the campaign, you know.” The raven glanced to the side, shrugging. “I’ve got the Master Chief Collection and everything.”

The brunet pretended to think about it for a moment as he stood from the chair, making Levi have to now look up at him. With a flash of a smile he leaned down to kiss him, his chest fluttering like it was the first time doing it all over again. When they parted, he still had that smile plastered to his face, a dreamy look in his eyes that Levi recognized. But for once he wasn’t daydreaming about games per say.

“Campaign with you sounds great.”

He was daydreaming about a future with Levi, where there no longer had to be screens between them, and he could spend hours just sitting in the man’s arms. Orlando wasn’t too bad, but maybe living in Atlanta could be in his future.

Especially with Levi at his side. Didn’t matter what game, or trial in life, he was determined to be with Levi for as long as either of them could stand it.

A huff from Levi pulled him from his thoughts, and he was quick to raise a brow at him in curiosity. The only response he was given was: “The Arbiter to my Master Chief.”, and Eren shook his head with his laughter.

“As sweet as that is at first, when you think about that in the context of our relationship.” Both of their faces warped into a look of grossed out regret. “I don’t really want to think about it like that.”

“I was trying to be romantic, and you ruined it.” Levi complained, releasing Eren and turning away from him, leaving the younger to break into a fit of giggles.

“I love you, Levi, but you should work on your romancing.” He breathed, following after the man as he left the guest room to go to the living room.

“Fuck off, my romancing is just fine.” With a roll of his eyes, Levi went about grabbing the case of the game, and grabbing controllers for the both of them.

“Yes, because comparing us to a pair of characters who used to hate one another is totally romantic.” The artist deadpanned, getting himself a glare from Levi.

“Alright, Cortana.”

“Why am I the existential AI?”

That question got him a look from Levi. One that screamed “You’re joking, right?”, as he walked over to his boyfriend, and handed him a controller.

“Considering how much you know, and the weird questions you’ve sent me in the middle of the night. I think that’s a safe selection.” Levi teased, though his eyes softened from the serious look he always held.

_Fair enough_

The next few hours were spent in silence, well not exactly silence considering they needed to use callouts, but it was relatively quiet. The two spent some cutscenes cuddled against one another, lazily reciting lines from the game with mock voices, Levi’s mocking of Lord Hood being one of Eren’s favorites. The way Levi recited the lines having Eren laughing softly against his shoulder.

Both would be quite content to just do this throughout Eren’s entire visit, staying close, playing games, and few words passing between them being any louder than a whisper. A relaxing sense of peace that neither wanted to leave, and as long as they didn’t need to do anything, they wouldn’t have to.

Smiling, Eren rested his head against Levi’s chest, and listened to his breathing and heartbeat. Both of them having basically ditched Halo for lounging with one another.

Yeah, Player 2 really wouldn’t be too bad.


End file.
